CAT 2019 Exam Information

What is CAT Exam?

CAT (Common Admission Test) is the centralised entrance examination for admission to various postgraduate programmes in Management offered by IIMs. Besides the IIMs, many other prestigious management colleges and institutions also accept CAT score for admission to their respective management programs.

Who conducts CAT Exam?

Every year, one of the IIMs organize CAT for admission to the MBA and PGDM programs of the best B-Schools in India. CAT 2019 will be conduct by IIM Kozhikode on November 24 in online mode. The convenor of the examination process for CAT 2019 is Prof. Sumanta Basu.

With six months left for the CAT exam 2019, the countdown for the most premier MBA entrance examination of India begins.

While there are many speculations that the CAT 2019 notification will be released early in the month of May this year, the trend of CAT exam notification release date has been last Saturday of July, every year. That way, the CAT 2019 notification should be released on 28th July 2019.

CAT 2019 Exam Date

Common aptitude test abbreviated as CAT is a very important examination for the candidates wanting to pursue management. The candidates have to compete with millions of people and the difficulty level of the questions is also very high. The important dates for the CAT exam have been released. The candidates are advised to adhere to the dates and deadlines for the processes that are involved in the CAT exam. The candidates need to carry their admit cards with them without fail. If the candidates fail to carry their required documents and admit card, he or she will not be allowed to enter the examination hall.

The dates become very crucial for a serious aspirant and thus can help them to prepare well for CAT exam. Apart, the application to CAT 2019 will involve lot of documentation and therefore, it’s better to be ready for it. Here is a note on the most important dates:

CAT 2019 Important dates

Events

Important dates

CAT 2019 notification

July 28, 2019

CAT 2019 registration – Start date

August 7, 2019

CAT 2019 online application – End date

September 18, 2019

Re upload of photograph, in case of mistakes in earlier CAT 2019 application form

Sep 2019 – Last week – expected on 25 Sep 2019

CAT 2019 – Release of admit card

October 23, 2019

CAT 2019 Examination date

November 24, 2019

CAT 2019 – Release of answer Key

4th week of December 2019

CAT 2019 – Result announcement

January 7, 2020

While it is good to know about the important dates for the CAT exam, the most significant date is the candidate’s ‘CAT preparation start date’, and the sooner the better it is.

The aspirants need to follow the rules and procedure for the exam properly. Any candidate who does not follow the instructions will not be allowed to appear for the exam. The dates will not be extended for anyone in any circumstances. The candidates need to submit their application before the last date as mentioned above. The schedule for the exam will go as per the dates mentioned and if there will be any changes it will be informed to he candidates.

CAT 2019 Eligibility Criteria

The IIM CAT exam is highly fair and allows all degree holders, both fresher and the experienced to take the examination. Following table can help you understand better about CAT exam eligibility:

Particulars

Eligibility criteria

Age

There are no age restrictions for CAT exam whatsoever

Qualifications

All degree holders and the students in final year of their degree can appear for CAT 2019

Qualifying Percentage in degree

Minimum 50% for General category and 45% for SC/ST students

The eligibility criteria for the foreign candidates appearing in CAT exam 2019 will remain the same as above.

CAT 2019 Registration

While the registration process for the CAT 2019 is expected to start by 7th of August 2019, we suggest you to keep the documents ready by understanding the following process:

The CAT exam aspirants are expected to register on iimcat.ac.in with their basic details and create their login credentials

The next set of processes would include filling up forms to disclose personal details, academic details, work experiences, special achievements, additional certificate programs etc. You will also need a soft copy of your photograph with white background and scanned image of your signature

The IIM CAT also allows you to go through the list of IIMs and courses available there. One can show their interest in a specific IIM and their course

The final part of the registration process is pay fees for CAT exam and download the receipt

A wise candidate keeps all this ready and enrolls himself/herself for the CAT exam as early as possible. This will help them to avoid last minute rush and helps them for better CAT preparation.

CAT 2019 Exam Pattern

To be noted that, CAT exam pattern will have negative marking. Every correct answer will fetch the candidate 3 marks and 1 mark gets deducted for every wrong answer. So it is better not to solve a question, if you are not confident about it.

There is a sectional time cutoff of 1 hour for each section of CAT exam and thus speed and accuracy in every subject becomes inevitable.

The following table gives you fair idea about the CAT exam pattern:

Section

What is it about?

Number of questions

Quantitative Aptitude – QA

It is all about the ability of a candidate to comprehend numbers and be able to get meaningful results – Mathematics and basics of statistics are involved

34

Verbal ability and reading comprehension – VARC

The test here is about the ability of a candidate to comprehend and understand the English language, to such an extent that they can handle businesses later in real time world

34

Data interpretation and logical reasoning

The capabilities to apply both Mathematical and English skills to arrive at a logical decision

CAT 2019 Syllabus

The CAT syllabus is mostly designed based on the application of high school mathematics and English. The CAT exam has never revealed clear syllabus and thus it becomes essential for students to consider as wider syllabus as possible for CAT preparation.

The CAT exam does not have a defined syllabus for preparation. However, you can attempt the mock test to understand the pattern of exam and types of questions. Check the CAT website regularly for the announcement of mock test. The same will also be updated here, once released

CAT 2019 Official Mock Test

to be updated

Further, the sections can be broadly divided into sub-topics for practice purposes. These are based on questions from previous years. Certain question-types tend to repeat over the years, some of which are mentioned here.

CAT 2019 Admit Card

We all have had the mixed feelings of joy and nervousness of receiving our admit cards for various other examinations, but the excitement of receiving admit card for CAT exam is going to be special.

The admit card for CAT 2019 should be issued for successfully registered candidates will be at least a month a before the CAT exam. Therefore, the candidate can expect the admit card for CAT 2019 between Oct 24 201 to Nov 24 2019.

The candidate is expected to login to their registered accounts on iimcat.ac.in and download the admit cards.

Once the admit card is received check for the details like Name, roll number, centre of examination and any mismatches with actuals can be reported through iimcat.ac.in, provided the details during the registration process were the same.

The admit card will be signed on the day of CAT exam and should be saved till the end of counseling sessions.

CAT Cutoff

Cutoff for eligibility for PI-WAT is overall percentile based but minimum percentile is applicable for sectional cutoff as well.

IIMs/MBA Colleges will release the minimum cutoff for PI/WAT/GD shortlisting sometime in January post the announcement of CAT Result. This minimum cutoff for shortlisting for interview will be released on official website of each IIM. The cutoff will vary from IIM to IIM.

A. Common Admission Test (CAT) is a National-level management entrance, competitive examination that is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) to provide admissions to aspirants into various management programs for IIMs and other such Non-IIM institutes.

Q. Who is eligible for CAT exam?

A. Candidates who hold a Bachelor’s Degree with minimum 50% marks or equivalent CGPA are eligible. For candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Differently Abled (DA) categories require a minimum of 45% is what is expected

Q. Is the CAT score valid for 2 years?

A. No, the CAT score is only valid for one year.

Q. Why is CAT exam important?

A. CAT is an online exam organised and administered by one of the top six IIM institutes every year to shortlist the candidates to get through to various B-Schools. Many other colleges also consider CAT score to be important due to its critical nature. Thus CAT holds a lot of relevance for MBA aspirants.

Q. How many times CAT exam is conducted in a year?

A. CAT Exams are conducted by IIM institutes in two sessions on the scheduled date as a computer-based test at more than 400 testing venues across the nation.

Q. Which IIM will conduct CAT 2019?

A. According to sources, the CAT 2019 exam will be conducted by IIM Kozhikode.

Q. What is the fee of the CAT exam?

A. From the past three years, the CAT exam fee for general category candidates is Rs.1,700 and Rs. 850 for reserved category candidates.

Q. How much percentile is required in CAT for IIM?

A. The cut-off ranges from above 70% to 90% but specific IIMs have different set cut-offs.

Q. What is considered as a good score in CAT?

A. The score consideration is subjective and depends on various B-School’s cut-off. However, anything above 90 percentile can be considered as a good CAT score.